


The Night Before Christmas...

by AMMO121



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Blanket Permission, Blood and Injury, Car Accidents, Christmas, F/M, Gen, M/M, Snow, Tagging friendships is hard, Zoro/Sanji is no longer just hinted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-09-09 17:17:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8901595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMMO121/pseuds/AMMO121
Summary: Sanji opens his eyes, which is in itself surprising. A familiar shade of green stares back at him.





	1. The Night Before Christmas...

**Author's Note:**

> I've been hooked on the idea of Sanji and Zoro being married, but that doesn't really have anything to do with this fic. No beta, so every stupid mistake is just me. 
> 
> Wanted to write a bit of a Christmas fic, and this is where my brain led me. i might have a few problems, but that's fine. 
> 
> Also, Sanji is suffering from some heavy injuries, including a bad concussion, so his thought process might be a bit all over the place. That is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Sanji opens his eyes, which is in itself surprising. A familiar shade of green stares back at him.

“Yo, Shit-Moss,” And Sanji gives the head a poke, because he has a few things against waking up with a shitty man on top of him – practically this one – and not a beautiful women. The arms – big, muscular and stupid, just like their owner – tighten around him, and that just kinda pisses him off more. He goes to kick the asshole off, and he gets the second clue that something is seriously fucked. 

He can't feel his legs. 

Sanji doesn't feel panic, not the way someone should at a time like this. (Panic is for the weak, and the Vinsmokes beat any such weakness from him at an early age.) He just takes a deep breath and tries to gather his thoughts, to bring order in a world of foggy memories and probable head injures. He figures that the easiest way to answers would be to ask Zoro, but his hand connects with his stomach instead of a mossy head. Which either means a) Zoro managed to get up off him and move out of sight without him noticing, or b) Zoro was never there and Sanji just imagined the asshole. Either way, there has to be some serious head injurers involved. Especially if Moss-Head is the one that his brain is conjuring up. Yup, he really must be dying. 

He's cold, which might has something to do with the snow falling around him, or it might have everything to do with the puddle of red that is staining the white. There's a buzzing in his ear which might be his head injury. But then it stops just being a steady buzz and switches to a more… musical tone. It's nice, in the way an old T-shirt is nice, bring comfort simply through familiarity. The melody plays for a minuet, then cuts off, before starting up again a moment later. 

He tries to hum along, but he can't seem to make his throat work that way. Shitty body. 

Sanji lays there for a moment, then looks down at his body, partly out of curiosity, but mostly out of shear stupidity. His eyes find his hips, and then travel down his thighs, before they abruptly run out of leg to examine. His brain – what ever of it is still left inside his head and not oozing out of his ears - can't quite process what it thinks it's seeing. He stares at the place just below his knees, and he has to blink snow out of his eyes. Said eyes travel upwards, and then end up staring at sky when he lets his head fall backwards. 

On the bright side, he hasn't lost his legs, yet. Down side – they're trapped underneath a fucking car. His fucking car, to be more specific. 

Shit. This is some really shitty shit. 

The song starts up again. He now realizes that that might be his phone. If he's not imaging it. He should probably pick up, if he wants to live that is. But his limbs are all so heavy and the cold it digging deeper into him with every passing second. Moving would require energy, and he feels like he has very little of that – which is fucking bullshit with the meal that he ate before leaving the Old Man's place--. Shit now his head hurts again, just as he was becoming numb to it to. 

The ringing stops. Then it begins again. 

For some reason he finds that strange, that this person would bother to call over and over. Why? Why would he care after the fight they had--. Shitshit shitty shit. Head. Pain. Thinking needs to stop. 

The ringing stops. 

Sanji's eyes start to slide close again. He's suddenly so tired, the cold and the little movements he made, sucking the will to move right out of his bones. Just a nap, then he'll wake up and-and…..

\--ging starts up again. Fucking annoying, just like the person calling. Why would he be calling Sanji when he was standing over him right now, staring down at him with...worried eyes? 

Sanji's too tired for this confusing shit. 

He reaches out, and answers the phone. A frozen finger sliding over an even chiller screen. At least he thinks he answers, because a voice is talking through the speaker, steadily increasing in volume as it's questions are left unanswered by the cook. Sanji turns his head, and watches as the phone is slowly buried in snow. The screen shines brightly in the dark, and Sanji can only stare intensely at the photo of the smirking face, hypnotized. The voice becomes louder, but it's more muffled now. 

He should probably say something, but he's pretty sure he left his voice back up the cliff, with the other half of his car. 

“--ve-Cook, you perverted asshole, you better speak up or I'll tell the girls all about what really happened in France during Junior year. Every. Last. Detail. Even the dr--.”

“D-do i',”Sanji manages to stutter out, pissed for reasons unknown to his concussed brain. “a-an' I'l'… b-burn y'u t' a cr-sp'.” 

A number of concerned voices start talking over each other. It's beautiful Nami that finally gets a clear sentence out over all of the ruckus. “Sanji! Where are you, the party started over two hours ago!” 

Aw, it fills Sanji's heart with warmth – that he doesn't really have right now – to hear that she was worried for him.

She also raises an important question. Where was he? He remembers feeling like he was falling, and then the screech of twisting metal. So he probably got into a car accident, which is going to fuck with his credit. Shit, and that would explain how his car ended up on top of him. He should probably do something about that. 

“-anji! Answer me this instant or god help you!” She's even beautiful when she's threatening him with bodily harm. It would be rude to deny a lady such a simple request. Plus, the red stain his growing around him, which his brain is trying to tell him is a very bad thing. 

“Cn't,” He gasps out weakly, “Cn't fe'l m' l'gs.” 

There's a pause on the other end, and then another stream of voices blast out of his phone. (The one that Franky had been toying with, which explains why it's in better condition then he is.) It Chopper, this time, who's voices finally comes through clearly. 

“Sanji, can you tell me where you are? And how extensive are your injuries? If you have any ope-.” The young doctor continues on, rambling like he sometimes does when he's worried. He's a good kid, and he has a good head on his shoulders for someone his age. Pretty damn smart too, becoming a Doctor at sixteen. 

“Cl'ff,”Sanji gasps out, suprising himself. “T'rn, w'men.”

Choppers line of chatter stops for a moment, lessening to Sanji apparent crazy rambling. Sanji hopes it makes more sense to the kid then it does to him. Zoro raises eyebrows at him, from where he's leaning against a tree. It pisses him off, seeing how part of his car – the part that isnt crushing his lower half – is wrapped around it. 

Stupid Moss-for-Brains, and his stupid golden eyes. Screw them, and the rest of the idiot too. And screw his own eyes, for feeling so heavy, and his ears, and the annoying chattering that fill them. 

And fuck the darkness, the shit head, while it drags him away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha...ha..ha...
> 
> I am soooo sorry that this took me so long to get out, but I was really lost on what I wanted. As an apology heres 5,000 words of pain and stuff. (I'm so sorry.)
> 
> I'm not as happy with this chapter as I was with the first, and there are parts of it that the characters might be a little ooc, but I'm just going to blame that on the fact that this is a Modern!Au and hope for the best. (I have to stop blaming my shitty writing on the characters and/or world. *Sigh*)
> 
> No beta, I am sorry once again.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

     

     The house was quiet in a way that it never is, not with so many of it regular visitors present. Most of the hallways were only lit by the slimmer of sun that shined through the shades.

In one of the first floor bedrooms a large man was silently trying to fix his tie. He’s in a black suit and it feels stifling on him, like it's strangling his skin. He curses again when he noticed that he had gotten it wrong again. He’s tempted just to find a clip on, or make one if he couldn't find one, but no, he couldn't do that to him. Curly-Bro deserved more than that.

Another figure exited the bathroom. This one is smaller, more slender, female, and clad in a beautiful black dress. Silk, the man knows, because Curly-bro deserves the best, and this women knows that as much as any of them, maybe even more. She always seems to see more then the rest of them, it's one of the many things he loves about her.

The women takes a second to place something on the bed, and pick something else up from the dresser, before she glide over to him. She gently slaps his hands away and then fixes his tie with several movements of her clever hands. Another thing he loves about her, but he’d be here a week if he tried naming every one of them. She rests her hands on his broad shoulders and gives them a light pat, the light reflects off her gold ring.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” He breaks the silence first, deep emotion in his voice. “It seems like just yesterday-.”

The women pats him on the shoulder again, shushing him as the tears finally make their escape.

“A-and how?” He sniffed. “I never thought-!” His shoulders start to quake in earnest.

“These kinds of things happen without rhyme or reason.” She explained, trying to pin a blue flower - Sanji’s color -to his suit in a way that would stay. “It's the way it's been since the dawn of time itself.”

He nodded his head several times in understanding, but that did nothing to slow down the tears. The women seemed to be satisfied anyway, but that might just be because she finally got the flower to stay put. She wasted no time in pinning her own blue flower into her hair, but she also slipped a green one in next to it, so that their petals were pushed together, mixed in a way that, if it wasn't for the different colors, you wouldn't even be able to tell that it wasn't just one larger flower.

“We’re going to be late if we don't leave now,” she picked up the object off the bed, because it's best not to forget it. She walked back over to her husband and sipped away his tears with the one of the many tissues that she carries in her purse. She has a feeling that she's going to need to restock after today.

“But it's being held in our back yard?”

“Yes, and you took forty-eight minutes trying to fix your tie. As hosts of this, we're expected to arrive early so that no one holds grudges that will last generations, and involve the death of two young, star crossed lovers. One in which will be our own descendant.”

“Gee, when you put it like that.” He scratched his head, rolling with it like he’s learned to do over the years. Wait… descendants? But wouldn't that mean-?

Stunned, all the man could do is watch as she glides out of the room, carrying much more than just her purse and a box.

 

* * *

 

_Franky is usually all for parties, especially ones that he gets to host himself, but the mood is totally down in the dumps for this one._

_Moss-Bro arrived on time, thanks to Nami, and in a mood worse than Luffy without meat. Usually him and Curly-bro arrive together, even before they lived together, arguing as the walked through the door._

_Except this time, with the only things Moss-bro walked in with was several badly wrapped packages, an annoyed redhead and a temper._

_The air is tense, no one wanting to be the one to bring it up. Except, of course, their ever oblivious Captain._

_“Hey Zoro!” Arms wrapped themselves impossibly tight around the older man.”You’re on time for once, shishishi.”_

_Zoro tried, unsuccessfully, to pry Luffy off, purposely ignoring the insult. He always seems to have a longer fuse for everyone that wasn't Sanji._

_“Where's Sanji?” Luffy turned his head this way and that, looking for their missing cook. “He said he would bring meat.”_

_The room gets even tenser, and even Brook stopped playing Christmas tones on his violin._

_“I don't know,” Moss-bro growled. “The idiot said he was going to visit the old man. Took his shitty car, had to get a ride from the Sea-witch.”_

_“Oh,” Luffy leaned back, stopping his search, and looking straight into Zoro’s eye. Moss-bro stared back, mostly out of stubbornness, and a need to act like nothing was wrong. “Why?”_

 

* * *

 

 

Zeff always thought he would already be long gone by the time this would happen. He was already getting into his later years when he took in the little Eggplant, over two decades ago. And this isn't making him feel any younger. Everything about these last six months has been draining and stressful.

He puts several plates down on the table, arranging them so that they were as appealing to the eyes as they are to the nose. He’s always been picky when making food, making sure everything is perfect, but today was something else. Everything has to be perfect, for the Eggplant.

He moves a plate slightly and then rearranges the contents for the third time.

 

* * *

 

_Zeff swears that if the shitty lemon wasn’t his kid he would have strangled him years ago. Another visit cut short because the brat couldn’t control his temper. The blond let himself fall into his chair, sighing when he was finally able to probe of his prosthetic. Another long day of dragging the dead weight around and having to deal with the aches that always comes from the damn thing even years after the fact._

_He’s getting towards that age where most people would expect him to retire. Which is complete bullshit and he’d knock anyone out cold if they even suggested it. He’s old, not dead. No matter what the shitty kid tried to say._

_His head falls back and he lets out a sign._

_Just as his phone started to ring._

_His hand blindly reached out, trying to find the damn thing. He debated on whether he should waste the energy yelling at the damn fool. His hand finally grasps it and he brings it to his face._

_“H’llo,”_

 

* * *

 

 

His hands are shaking. A lifetime of rigorous sword training and his fucking hands were shaking. Fucking hell shit cook-.

“Sanji would laugh at you right now if he could see you.” It's said in an uncharacteristically series tone for the younger man, and the words didn't match the tone. But he supposes that if there was ever a day for his Captain to somber up a bit, it would be today.

Zoro swats Luffy's hands away from his tie, he knows from past experience that the younger boy is more likely to choke him then help him. All an accident, of course.

“Who gives a damn about that idiot would think.” He fiddles with his tie again, ignoring the look that Luffy's trying to throw his way. He wants to swear when he manages to tangle it all up again, but he's not going to give the damn thing the satisfaction.

His shaking hands have nothing to do with it for fucks sake.

 

* * *

 

_A lot of the shit that Curly does annoys the every living hell out of him. His obsession with his looks and how he never fails to make a fool of himself around every women under fifty and over twenty. His protectiveness over his shitty car and how he doesn't ever let Zoro drive. Or how he's always rushing Zoro out of the house to try and get them to places on time. The blond is practically anal over arriving on time when he's the one responsible for food, which is almost always._

_Which is why it's strange when Five O'clock comes and goes with no sign of the Cook._

_“Maybe he got caught up at Zeffs?” Suggests Nami once it gets closer to six then five and Luffy looks two seconds away from eating the cheesy fake turkey that Franky had pulled out of god knows where._

_“Hmm,” Robin says, not sounding all that convinced. “It's more likely that the two got into a fight, as they are wont do these days, and Sanji-san stormed off in a rage.” She doesn't add any horrific off-handed scenario, which is far more worrying then if she did. Not that he's worried about the idiot, no their fight is still fueling the fury under his skin and he can't wait to rub his tardiness in the Shit-Cooks face. If he could even speak to him._

_There's a moment of silence among the group. They're all seated or standing around the Sunny House, wide open living room warmed and lit mostly by the raging fireplace. Brook was fiddling with his violin, but he doesn't move to play another song, simply leaves the instrument lying across his lap._

_“You should call him,” Zoro doesn't look away from the violin, mostly because he has a sinking feeling that Luffy's talking to him._

 

* * *

  
Chopper has been friends with Sanji since he was twelve and fresh into med school. Seven years later and the blond still calls him Kid and Short Stuff, even though he's nineteen now. Sanji's the one that would stop over at the hospital and force him to take a break and eat some delicious meal that he's put together with Chopper in mind. Chopper would usually scold Sanji for his smocking habits at one point or another during these visits, and the cook would either scowl or laugh, ruffle Choppers hair and tell him not to worry.

Chopper can't help worrying. Even though worrying doesn't always stop bad things from happening.

 

* * *

 

  
_“Seven fucking years!” Zoro yells, not caring that they're probably going to get another noise complaint from the old women in 2B. “And you're still so stuck in the fucking closet your picking lint out of your ass!”_

_“That's bullshit and you know it!” Blue eyes burn into his. “It's not like we're exactly subtle! We live together, we go everywhere together and for fucks sake we've kissed in public before!”_

_“It's not the same!”_

_“Same?” Pale hand raise in confused frustration. “Same as getting settling down and having 2.5 kids and a fucking dog?! Why the fuck do we need that, huh?! We've been living just fine like this for years!”_

_“You're just sacred!” Zoro screams back, snarls and spits his words. “Scared of being tied down! Of commitment! To admitting to the world that you just might like dick! That one day I'm going to not be what you want and you won't be able to just pick up your shit and leave!”_

_There's silence in the room for a moment, both men breathing hard and staring at each other._

_“...Then maybe it's better that it happened now,” A hand was brought up to cover blue eyes. “Rather then the next time we both can't decide what we want from this relationship.”_

_Zoro's taken a lot of hard hits from the other man over the years, mostly during their spares, but none of them have ever managed to knock the air out of him like those words did. Nor has anything the cook ever said kindle such a burning anger inside him._

_“Fine, then leave” The words leave his mouth before he can chew them over. “and don't ever come back.”_

_Now Sanji's the one that looks like he's been shot._

_Zoro turns away in a way that his pride wouldn't normally allow him to, but doesn't know if he could take any more air into his lungs and look into those hurt eyes at the same time. He doesn't turn around when the door slams shut. He doesn't turn around when it echos with finality and steels all the air from the room._

_No tears fall. Tears are for the dead, not lost relationships with stupid cooks._

 

* * *

 

Nami never used to get headaches like these before she met Luffy, and later on, the rest of those idiots. She's thankful the Zeff's offered to take care of the catering, one less thing to worry about, and her bank account is weeping at just the thought of feeding Luffy. She wonders how Sanji-.

The ginger looks up from her clipboard and sighs when she realizes that she has to see the idiot before this all begins. It's been … hard for them all, seeing him like that. But she's paying for all this and she'll be damned if she doesn't get a private moment with the bastard before… well, before.

Tucking her clipboard under her arm, she made her way down the hallway. She had a dumbass to see.

 

* * *

 

  
_(He didn't mean it.)_

_There's a part of him that's always known that Luffy was on another level of weirdly strong, and he's never tried denying it. Just another level to strive towards. But that doesn't stop him from trying to throw the young man off him. The snow had been slippery under his feet when he slid down the cliff side, but he doesn't care. All he could see is the twisted mess of that stupid car laying everywhere. Sanji's pained gasps still fill his ears, his head, his heart._

_(He didn't fucking mean it.)_

_The snow had been slippery going down, and it was cold to the point of painful from where he was half buried in it. Luffy was doing his best to hold him down, to let those strangers help Sanji, but he needed to touch and hold and feel-!_

_He wonders if those are his screams, it would explain the cold in his lungs and the rapid breathing._

_(God he didn't mean it. Come back. Don't go.)_

_Franky's helping them lift up the car off Sanji's legs – his fucking legs, god fucking hell. Sanji's too active, he'll be fucking destroyed without his legs. Not enough room in the kitchen for a wheelchair, and they live on the second floor –._

_He must have finally broken free of Luffy's hold because suddenly he's gaining ground before slim, pale arm wrap around his chest. He kicks out, not entirely sure of what he's trying to accomplish, just the knowledge that he has to get to him._

_(For fucks sake don't start listening to him now.)_

_The medics are speaking rapidly to each other, hands moving, touching, assessing. Choppers there, hands red, giving directions to two men twice his age like it was his every right. And it fucking was, and that might be the only reason he's able to hold back the urge to scream at the medics themselves instead of just at Sanji and world in general._

_Luffy's straining to hold him, Zoro can tell, but before he could brake free again, another pair of arms are holding him back. Usopp, he realizes with a start. And then it's Nami wrapping her arms around arm. And then Choppers shouting and the little box they've hocked Sanji up to is screaming and Zoro wonders how he can hear it over his own screams._

_The air is cold, and it hurts but not nearly as much as the realization that he can't see Sanji's breath in the air, even before they put the damned mask on him. Or that there's no rise and fall of his chest._

_Zoro stops struggling, but the arms around him don't loosen but they're no long holding him back. They're just… there, holding him together instead. Two hand land on his shoulders, one boney with age and another large in size. Another rests on the back of his neck, light and careful. They all fallow him to the ground when his knees give out._

_(Don't go.)_

_No one mentions the cold, or his tears._

 

* * *

 

 

The ceremony is held outside, under the sky and the sun that hangs there. It was decided pretty early on that there was no other place for this to happen, no other people that had to be here. It's not a big crowd, just their infamous group of friends, some cooks from the Baratie and small number of people that have pass through their lives over the years.

It's not long before Nami's coming out and -loudly- telling everyone to take a their seats. There's no real rhyme or reason for the seating chart, except for how Luffys group and Zeff are place in the first row. Only Brook did not move to sit down, instead going to the front and taking his place standing there. He had important job to do today. For his friends.

A white carpet stretched out in either direction in front of the older man. No one really payed the strange layout any mind. Brook watched as Nami listening to something in her ear piece before nodding to the pianist. A part of him was wistful, wanting to be the one making the notes dance across the yard. But no, he scolds himself, this is what was asked of him, and he promised. It is a day worthy of a song to be sure, but he already has one written about and for something far greater then a single day, even one such as this. He'll have a chance to play it later, he knows.

Brook, along with every other person in the room flick their eyes from one side of the yard to the other. Zoro looks likes he's ready to go to battle, back straight and steps measured. It's to be noted that the pace he set didn't look like he was slowing down, but still allows for the other man to advance at the same rate.

Brook has spent decades training his ears, so the slight squeak of the wheelchair cut through the music quite clearly to him. He's using his arms, not the joy stick to move the chair. They're all aware of how much he hates using it.

But yes, the chair isn't loud enough to disturb the music, not for those who don't know the melody back and forth. But everyone takes notice when it stops short of the meeting area in the middle. The music doesn't stop, the player much too well payed and experience to allow that. But a nervous murmur does spread across the audience, none looking quite as startled as Zoro himself, unflappable as he sometime is.

Such things would do that to a groom.

The figure gripped the armrests and takes a deep breath. He reaches down and flips on the breaks before, to the surprise of everyone present, pushing himself up out of the chair.

The room collectively holds their breath. And for the first time in almost half a year Sanji stood on his own two feet. No hand bars or physical therapist hovering nearby, just his own two legs.

Zoro takes a step forward, which had less to do with walking down the aisle and more to do with wanting to catch his husband-to-be if needed. Sanji shoots a glare that dares the other man to even think about it, and Zoro lowers his raised hands. They take the last few shaky steps and meet in the middle.

“Your moss hair clashes horribly with you tux,” Says Sanji, whose overjoyed smile split his face.

“And you stupid eyebrow looks even more ridicules then usual,” Zoro shoots back. He's also smiling and Brook is much to old for the tears that swell in his eyes.

Zoro reaches out and takes Sanji's hands in an uncharacteristic display of affection.

Brook clears his throat and begins.

 

* * *

 

  
_Sanji is already planning the death of whatever the fuck is making that fucking noise before he can bring himself to open his eyes. At first he thinks it's his alarm clock and that any second now Zoro is going to grumble in his sleep and mumble threats under his breath. But as he wakes he realizes that that’s a stupid thing to think and silently scolds himself. His alarm sounds nothing like this fucking thing._

_Sanji does eventually get his eyes to open, after much negotiation and a fight worth of Usopps story blog. There must be something wrong with his fucking head because he doesn't quiet understand what he's looking at first. Oh, he knows it's a ceiling, but its those shitty tile things that every public build enjoys so much and not the cream color of his bedroom. Which is such bullshit. He'd much rather be in his nice king size bed instead of what the ever fuck he's lying on right now. Hell, he might even possible not mind if the Moss-Head decided to join him--._

_And suddenly Sanji wants to know what the fucks going on. He could have sworn that he was on his way to the Sunny House for the Christmas party. He was still pissed off at Zoro and Zeff and the whole world for the shit situation he's found himself in._

_Snowflakes start to fall around him, melting as soon as they touch his car. He turns on the windshield wipers after a moment and gets ready to make that damn turn that he hates so much. His head lights reflect off the snow and he can make out the old billboard with the lovely lady on it, sitting hidden behind several overgrown trees. And then – nothing._

_Fucking shitty memory._

_Sanji stares at the ceiling for a moment longer, but decided that was a great fucking waste of his time and turned his gaze elsewhere. He's in a hospital room, which fuck his life, and he's hooked up to an obscene number of machines, which also deserves a great big 'fucking shitty hell'._

_Once he's done glaring over at the stupid things, he sweeps his gaze across the rest of the room. It's small, much too small for the number of people that have managed to cram themselves inside it. Sanji might have felt claustrophobic if this wasn't the millionth time they've all ended up in a tiny space together. Franky was taking up a good portion of the far wall, the big brute, sleeping like the dead. Usopp was using his lap as a pillow, accidentally Sanji guesses, and boy does he want to witness that wake up call. His breath stutters when he catches sight of his beautiful Nami-swan sleeping like an angel on the rooms lone couch. More of love seat then anything, but he knows that someone – probably Franky – had dragged it into the room, under Choppers watchful eye no doubt. Luffy was sprawled out on the floor beside the couch, limbs flung out like he was trying to take up as much space a he fucking could. Brook, Robin and Chopper were missing. Chopper probably had patients to see to, so Sanji's not to surprised by his absents. Robin is much too dignified to sleep curled up in a hospital room along side with a number so shitty men, and he hopes that she's enjoying her own bed right now. (He doubts that that's why she's really not here, deep, deep down, but a man can hope.) And who the hell knows what Brooks up to. The old man is fifty fucking shades of weird._

_Zoro was sitting with his stupid green head resting on Sanjis' shitty bed, using his arms as pillows. He's not holding Sanji's hands, which might have pissed him off at any other time, but their fight was still fresh in his mind. Even if it was the only clear thing swimming up there at the moment._

_He's lucky Zoro even fucking bothered to stay. A part of Sanji wants to blame Zoro not wanting to tell the others about their break up, but he hasn't been suffering the idiots presence for bordering on a decade without picking up a thing or two about his character. Zoro isn't usually the type to do something he doesn't want to for the sake of a lie. Or lie in general, unless it was part of some grand scheme cooked up by someone else, and even then he'll probably manage to fuck it up. So maybe he just didn't mention it to the others._

_He's not sure what he'd prefer to be the truth._

_His hand is bandage free, which is his one saving fucking grace, so his pale skin isn't too much of contrast to Zoro's tan skin. He gently lays it on the other mans arm for a second before bringing it to resting in the famous green mop. He plays with a strand and decides that he's going to ignore how much strength it took to just move his fucking arm. He's not in as much pain as he guess he should be, which hey way to go Chopper for getting him the good stuff, but he knows it will come eventually. He doesn't need all the details to know that he's going to be cursing every higher power he can get his mind on – in several different languages and at great length. Getting wean off this shit is going to be hell._

_Sanji rubs several locks of hair between his fingers and shit the idiot must be really out of it if Sanji playing with his hair isn't automaticly snapping him awake--._

_A low huff comes from the Moss-ball and the head turns under his hand. And oh look, it's the dumbass's stupid sleeping face. He must have a concussion because the sight makes him smile. A small, barely there smile, he promises. He might be completely gone, but there's no way he'll admit it._

_And that's the problem isn't it._

_Sanji is afraid that change will… well, change. Seven years of dating plus the two before Usopp 'accidently' locked them in that closet. (The memories brings back the urge to kick the long nosed bastard. It is a familiar feeling.) That's a lot of time to get used to a way of life, to get comfortable with what life has given him. And he's afraid that any change might not be a good change, even… that._

_Sanji didn't realize he was starting to clench his fist until a groan of protest came from the sleeping man. The cook released the strands of hair like they where going to burn him. It was to late, golden eyes fluttered open. No, flutter is the word you use to describe butterflies and a beautiful women's eyelashes. This brute just cracked his eyes open like an idiot, mumbling nonsense into his arm._

_Sleepy eyes roamed for a moment, resting on Sanji's face. More mumbling. And then his eyes seem to clear and widen when he realizes that blue eyes are staring back._

_“Sanji!” The Moss-head sits up so fast that he almost knocks over his chair. The idiot._

_“W'hat's 'p i'iot.” And wow was his throat dry. Someone get him some shitty water. Something cold touched his lips and wow the Mossball is actually listening for once. It must be a Christmas fucking miracle. He takes in the ice cub gratefully, shivering at the cold on his tongue. Flashes of unpleasant memories fill his mind. “W'at?”_

_“That damn car of your finally gave out, as far as Franky and Usopp could tell from what's left of it.” Zoro put the cup of mostly melted ice cubs on the table and took a seat again. “Sent you down that hill right at that turn, the one before the Sunny House.”_

_Sanji made a sad noise because his poor car. He had that thing since he was fifteen for fucks sake. That thing had a lot of memories sunk into it. A fuck tone of first. The first time he kissed a girl. His first cigarette. The first time he kissed Zoro. That time with Usopp, Luffy and the firecrackers. That time with Robin and Nami and the good shit that he managed to swipe from the Old Man. (Long night of talking about life, and shit. Nothing unclothe, no matter what Usopp tried to joke about later damnit.)_

_The first time Zoro purposed. The first time Sanji turned down his proposal._

_The second time was during their second trip to France, and the third was the day of Franky's Christmas party. Before their argument – what sparked the argument really, except for the years of tension that's been building already – and before he ran off and started another pointless argument with Zeff and before he fucking drove his car of a cliff._

_“You've been out for almost a week.” Zoro cut through his thoughts. The Grass idiot was avoiding Sanji's eyes and the blond wonders if their fight is still as fresh in his mind as it is in Sanji's. But fucking hell. A week? He missed fucking Christmas. Shit. And everyone's presents were in the trunk of his car. Shitshitshit. And that's not even the worse of it. Because Zoro isn't looking him in the fucking eyes._

_“What?” Sanji snapped. Zoro's always been very blunt, and he hides things like Luffy hides his eating habits. As in, not at all._

_“The doctor… thinks… said,” Here Zoro paused as if he needed a moment to think before he let the next words fall from his lips. And that doesn't fucking help the shitty situation. The idiot chooses now to be delicate with his words and god fucking damn Sanji needs a cigarette. Not even the good stuff that he's being pupped full of right now is enough to handle this shit. “She said that your legs were crushed almost beyond repair. They almost had to amputate, if Chopper hadn't been able to… step in. And… that you might not be able to walk again.”_

_Scratch that. All the cigarettes and drugs in the world could pull that punch._

_Sanji let out a low, whisper quite string of every swear word that came to mind, in several different languages. It wouldn't due to wake the lovely Nami with such profanities._

_One of the countless machines that Sanji was hooked up to gave a strange noise that caused both of them to jump. For a moment they both held their breath, but when no panic doctors or nurses came running in and Sanji showed no signs of kneeling over dead, they relaxed. It was silent again for a moment, only their friends breathing and the beeping from the machines cutting through it._

_“Hey Zoro,” Sanji finally said, turning his head towards the other. “Fuck what the doctors think.”_

_Zoro's eyes stared intently back at him, before the idiot broke into a vicious smile._

_“And…” Here Sanji paused again. “About what you said… before.” Zoros' face twisted slightly in guilt, which was enough for him to know that the idiot wasn't getting it. “Not that you shit-head, the thing before that. I-I… change my fucking mind.”_

_For a long moment Zoro had his Thinking Face on, trying to figure out what Sanji meant. The cook gave him a moment to process in that tiny moss brain of his. And then the swordsmens' mouth fell open and his face started to grow red. Ah, there he goes._

_“Y-you mean?”Zoro starts, but comes up short when Sanji takes one of his hands in his and gives it a squeeze. A sign of affection that they rarely indulge in._

_“Yeah, sure,” Sanji smiles, because when things look like shit, you got to smile. And this is a moment that deserves a smile. “Let's get married you stupid Marimo.”_

 

**Fin**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> I so lied, this is totally the story where they get married. 
> 
> Did I fool you there for a moment? I wasn't sure how well it would work out that way, but that felt like the right place to take this story. I decided that Sanji would be the one with slight commitment issues in this one. And yes, they did date for seven years and it did take almost dying to get him to say yes. Yay! 
> 
> I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me and for reading this! It makes me sooo happy when I hear what you have to say about my fics. Please leave a comment and/or kudos! And thank you to the Anon on tumblr that inspired me to write most of this in one night and then scream in frustration as I tried to write the last flashback -- it took me a week. Just shows you how much a little encouragement goes I guess. 
> 
> You can find me at tumblr at (sorry, ugly link): http://ammo121.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> I'm working on two other Sanji fics - a pokemon in One Piece!Au and Mama Vinsmoke kicks ass!Au - and one the focus on the ASL Brothers, mostly Sabo and Ace - a humans can fuse!au. I might post little bits of them on tumblr, but no promises on when- or even if - they'll get posted. Leave me some messages on tumblr and talk to me about them, I love sharing ideas and it feeds my muse! 
> 
> Please leave a comment and/or kudos! I love them so much!

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter should be out soon. I would have just made it all a One-Shot, but it's getting late and I really wanted to post this tonight. 
> 
> Leave Kudos and comments please! They really do make my day! and it might help motivate me to write faster.


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